


Meeting a robin

by PikaDrayer



Series: Tribulations of a lost robin [1]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: And the whole guild in fact, As is Team Natsu, BAMF Lucy Heartfilia, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, The Raijinshuu is out for blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:06:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24427723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PikaDrayer/pseuds/PikaDrayer
Summary: After their recent adventures on Edolas, Team Natsu is once again looking for new challenges. When Lucy picks up a request for protection against a guild of assassins, she doesn't know it yet but she is about to free a robin from its cage, and change its fate forever. (I definitely suck a summary...)
Series: Tribulations of a lost robin [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764043
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	1. Protection

**Author's Note:**

> Here is the first chapter of this fiction! All the faults are my own as I don't have a Beta ^^ Please be clement with me as English is not my native language :) Enjoy!
> 
> Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima, I own nothing except my OCs ^^

In the guild of Fairy Tail, Lucy Heartfilia sighed, her shoulders dropping slightly. She was in front of the requests board at the first floor of her guild hall, but could not see any jobs fitting the level of her actual team, or the amount of money she needed to pay her rent this month. The problem was that with Erza and Gray both doing a mission on their own, the team was down to Natsu, Happy and Lucy. Wendy was still trying to integrate herself in the guild, so Lucy did not want to take her away from Magnolia right now. 

The blonde girl was about to abandon her search of a job for today when a rather small paper took her attention. It was on left upper the corner of the board, and was very difficult to spot, in a cheap brown paper that did nothing to catch the eye. Lucy took it carefully, and read the announce on it.

' _Protection needed!'_

_Private Detective needing protection against assassins after an investigation about their activities._

_**Recompense:** _ _**500 000 Jewels** _

Stars began to dance in the celestial mage's eyes. It was the perfect job! It was still early in the morning, so they could pack their stuff and be gone by noon. Lucy knew the village cited lower on the request; it was maybe two days away in train. The blonde cringed at that thought. The Fire Dragon Slayer would be insufferable in the transport. She ran back toward the table she had shared with the pink haired boy and the blue cat minutes before, and slammed the paper on the wood.

"We take this request!" she announced with determination. When he discovered the mission, Natsu's usual grin widened.

"Assassins? You mean like sneaky ninja? Streaking in the shadows and disappearing with a smoke bomb?" Happy looked up at the other boy with hope "Really? You think we will see real ninjas?"

"No, you idiots. Like dangerous sociopaths killing peoples for money." Snapped back the young woman. Honestly, she sometimes wondered if the boy next to her was capable of taking a mission seriously. Or his annoying cat for that matter.

"Then there is no time to lose!" When the blonde only made a desperate face at her companion antics, the pink haired boy took hold of her wrist and forced her to follow him. "Come on Lucy! We have ninjas to fight!" 

"Mira, can you tell Erza and Gray where we are if they come back before us?" Asked Lucy at the barmaid as Natsu was already running outside, excited at the prospect of some action. "Yes, of course! But be careful you three. Assassins are not to be taken lightly." She called loudly, her face betraying some worry for her friends.

"Don't worry! I'll roast them!" Screamed back Natsu, already at the door of the guild, Happy following them while laughing. "Aye sir!" 

Mirajane rolled her eyes and smiled softly. It seemed like her friends would never change, but again maybe that was reason they all feat so well in this guild of crazy persons?

* * *

Two days later, Lucy let a shout of relief as they entered the village of their destination. The two days of travel had been hard and tiring for the three members of the team, with Natsu being constantly sick, and Happy trying to cheer him up with the blonde. The village was rather small, and maybe a little poor looking. The house indicated on the request was at the end of the main and only road. It was a small habitation in bricks and an apparent frame in wood. 

Once they were in front of their client's house and about to knock, a man in his forties opened the door and ushered them inside, before quickly taking a peek outside and then closing and locking the door.

"Welcome, my name is Max Middle. Are you the mages coming to assure my protection? Aren't you a little bit too young for this?" He seemed to be gauging them, trying to evaluate their worth and finding them lacking somehow.

Lucy observed him back, and as she drew her own conclusions about him, she became more and more worried. However, it was the blue cat who voiced her thoughts "He does not look rich enough to pay us 500 000 Jewels..."

The man was small and thin, with ordinary clothes, and no signs of possessing as many Jewels as promised in the recompense. But the celestial mage was not about to be deterred, she really needed those Jewels, and even a quarter would be enough for her!

"Mister Middle, can you tell us more about those assassins? Maybe we still can help you." Natsu, a little pissed at being considered 'too young', added "Come on man! We may be young, but we are super strong!" 

The man seemed to relent. "Well, I guess I don't really have a choice. They'll be here soon, and I have a lot to tell you about." He sighed. "They don't have a name. They are just the known as a guild of mercenaries on the best days, and assassins on the worsts."

He laughed a little at that. "Even if recently, they are almost exclusively known as the latter." He sat on a tired and old looking couch, and gestured them to do the same on the chairs at their disposition. Then he kept going. "From what I know, they only know each other by codename. There is Wolf, Tiger, and Bear. The last member to join them was 'Robin' two years ago." 

"Robin? Like the bird?" Asked the celestial mage, perplexed. Compared to a wolf, a tiger, or a bear, a robin did not seem very intimidating.

Happy seemed perplex too. "Maybe she can fly?" But the Fire Dragon Slayer countered "Nah, if I was a super ninja capable of flying, I would have chosen an animal much cooler... like a Dragon!"

Lucy rolled her eyes at this. "Why am I not surprised?" 

"The codename of their leader is: 'Chimera'. I think he is the only one who know their true identities." Continued the man, sending them a nasty look. Clearly, he did not want to be interrupted again. But before he could finish his tale, something seemed to scare him.

His breath halted and his eyes widened. "They are already here..." It was only a whisper, but it was enough for the two mages to stand up and take a battle stance. The man visibly began to panicked before running toward a door on his left. "Stay here!" The Fairy Tail mages heard some commotion inside the other room for a minute, their client talking to himself in hushed and worried tones. He finally came back with a stack of papers and a small safe, and gave them forcefully to Lucy.

"This is all the proofs and the indices I've found about them in the last year, and also all the Jewels in my possession. I won't need them anymore." Natsu was about to interrupted him, but the man did not let him voiced his objections before speaking again.

"I'm sorry. I lied to you." When he saw the surprise and anger on their faces he added quickly "I know there is nothing we can do to save my life. The sole purpose of sending a request was to be able to pass all my notes and proofs of their crimes to someone before they found me." 

There was sadness and resignation on his voice, like if in his mind he was already dead. Lucy tried to reassure the man, to say that now they were here to protect him, that he did not need to worry anymore. But then she noticed that she could not talk. Or more precisely, she did not have the strength to talk, or to move. That was when the celestial mage saw a dark smog around them, like shadows crawling and at grabbing their bodies. And with each passing second this black fog was draining Lucy's forces.

After a few moments she drooped on the floor, her body motionlessness, and from the sound around her, it the two men had done the same thing. But how could have the Fire Dragon Slayer not see this spell or flair the caster? Maybe he was still sick from the two days trip? Because there was someone in the middle of the room, standing in the shadows, like if she belonged here. It was obviously a woman if her forms were any indications, entirely covered with a black leather armor. A dark clothe was hiding the lower half of her face, and her wood was blocking the view of her eyes. She took a look at the room and at their forms on the floor before moving.

Suddenly the shadows shifted and took the form of a blade on the assassin hand. The young woman walked slowly toward their client, and took none too gently hold of his hair. Then she lifted his head, and put almost delicately the dark blade on in throat.

"NO! Don't do this!" Natsu screamed with the little energy he had left, but not to avail. They all heard the monotone voice from the intruder reciting a spell.

" **Life Force** : _Slash_ "

And then there was only red as the blade moved, the gesture quick and fluid, obviously a habit by now, and cut open the throat of the older man. Lucy tried to scream, but she did not have the strength anymore. That was why she looked at the Fire Dragon Slayer, hoping to find her friend ready to fight and avenge the detective, but his last outburst seemed to have completely drained him, leaving him unconscious. Turning her head shakily toward their aggressor, Lucy froze.

In the eyes of the assassin, there were no emotions, they were blank and lifeless, like if they belonged to a corpse. The celestial mage startled at this observation. During her time as a Fairy Tail member, she had seen violence and death, but never like this. There was none of the joy a sadist would display, the guilt and regret someone coerced in doing this would show, the satisfaction at a well-done job a professional would parade. 

Maybe that was the reason the blonde could not refrain a shiver when those brown eyes settle on her. The next moment, the assassin began to walk in the direction of the celestial mage, her movements slow and deliberate, like a predator, or a robot. " **Life Force** **…** " There was no way the blond could escape, her life already almost completely gone, taken by the shadows around her.

As she closed her eyes full of tears, Lucy wished she had been able to see her father a last time.


	2. Attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second chapter of this fiction! All the faults are my own as I don't have a Beta ^^ Please be clement with me as English is not my native language :) Enjoy!
> 
> Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima, I own nothing except my OCs ^^

It had seemed so easy to accomplish this mission. Tiger had opened a portal directly in their target's house to ensure that she would not be detected while approaching, so all Robin had needed to do was preparing her spell to drain the life of all the person present. She had felt three persons in room, one of them was the target and the two others were strangers, and also a weird look cat.

Could cats really be blue? But it did not matter. In an instant every one of them were on the floor, already too weak to fight back. Then she willed the darkness around her hand to take an appropriate form for her next spell, and walk toward her target. She took his hair and exposed his fragile and delicate throat.

The boy screamed something but the spell was already on her lips. ' _Now the mission is almost done._ ' she though with neither passion nor satisfaction. The look the blond had just thrown at her had bothered the assassin. But both her and the other boy, and even the cat, could not stay alive. They were witnesses, so they needed to die. " **Life Force...** " She was now walking toward her, determined.

The other girl closed her eyes, causing some tears to fall on her cheeks. It stirred something inside Robin, but it was gone almost as soon as it appeared so the assassin kept going. She was about to executed her coup de grace when she was stopped by an angry voice.

"Don't touch them!"

Robin startled, not having heard the two persons now behind her coming. She barely had the time turn around in order to face them that she heard a whistle in the air next to her. The sword passed only a few millimetres away from her cheek, but she was not so lucky with the ice-made blunt mass slamming into her ribs and projecting her violently on the floor. There was a loud 'crack' as some of her ribs broke and she let out a cry of pain. 

The assassin barely managed to get back to back on her feet, but before she could think of a counter-attack, there were hundreds of weapons around the Knight mage, all pointing at her.

Fortunately at this moment Robin felt one of her companion's portals under her foot, and then was falling away from her opponents, back at their secret lair. The two other members of the guild and their master was there, looking worriedly at their arriving companion.

"What happened?" asked harshly Chimera. 

"Mages..." The young woman whispered, still trying to catch her breath. "There was two of them with a cat when I first arrived, but they did not inhere the mission. I was about to end them as they were witnesses when the two others arrived. It was an Ice-Make wizard, and a Knight mage. They got me by surprise before I could finish the job."

The whole guild was focused on her to hear her explanations. There was of course Chimera, a tall man and thin man with black hair and blue eyes. Tiger was a short and bulky man. He was fast and strong, and somewhat more agile than his appearance could suggest. He had short ginger hair, and attractive green eyes.

His brother, Bear had brown and longer hair, but possessed the same green eyes. He was taller and even larger than Tiger, which made him looked like a giant, especially compared to Wolf or Robin.

Wolf was another young woman. She was tall, with long and curly grey hair, and beautiful honey eyes. She had well developed forms, which were the reasons she was so often sent on honeypot missions. Finally, there was Robin. The young woman was of average height and weight.

She had empty brown eyes and a rather round visage that gave her a cute and innocent appearance at the opposite of her soul. She possessed some forms, but not as developed as Wolf, and dark blond hair falling just under her shoulder blades. 

And while their master did not seem happy at the thought of one of his own being caught by surprise, he was more importantly pissed that someone had dared to try to hurt something that belonged to him. "We need to deal with them. Bear, Wolf, I want you to observe this group of mages. We will kill them, but not now." The man seemed to think for a while before continuing his train of thoughts.

"I want them dead, their bodies just in front of their pathetic guild and their blood painting the door that should have led them to their home." There was madness in Chimera's eyes and a vicious tone in his voice, but none of the assassins seemed to be bothered by it.

Every one of them nodded their acceptance, and while Bear and Wolf began to prepare themselves for their surveillance mission, both Robin and Tiger went to their rooms to rest. The brunet did not feel well.

' _NO! Don't do this!_ ' The scream of the pink haired boy and the tears of the other girl had woken up something inside her. It was like a hurricane of… things? The assassin did not know how to define it, but it was disturbing. However, she was sure that it would quickly disappear after a good night of sleep.

* * *

Everything was hurting. That was the first thing Lucy became aware of when she regained consciousness. The second thing was that she actually was still alive. "What... What happened?" She could not remember a lot at first, but then the memories of the last day came back, and she began to cry.

"Lucy!" Screamed Erza, Gray, and Natsu simultaneously. 

"Are you ok Lucy?" Asked Wendy worriedly. The little Air Dragon Slayer had worked all the night on her two friends and the blue Exceed, barely managing to give them back enough life force before they... No! She did not want to think about it. Happy was now curled on her laps next to Carla, and Natsu had been pacing nervously before the blond woke up.

"Gray and I meet up on the way back to the guild. When we arrived Mirajane explained the situation to us, and we decided to go and serve as backup if necessary. We asked Wendy to follow us by a few hours just in case. I guess we did the right thing." The red headed woman's voice was soft, betraying the fear she had felt when both her and Gray had discovered the almost lifeless bodies of their friends. 

"Yeah, gave us quite a scare." The dark-haired boy added, blushing slightly at his words.

"Sorry..." It was the only word the celestial mage could think of. Sorry for scaring you, sorry for letting our client get killed, sorry for failing the guild, sorry...

"We will for another day just to be sure you are fine, and then we will go back to the guild." The Knight mage announced.

"But we need to go back and avenge Mister Middle!" As always, Natsu was the one wanting to go back and fight, but this time it was not going to happen.

"No! We need to inform the Master and go through all the information your client gave you before doing anything." Erza tone was absolute, letting everyone know there would be no arguments over it. But then she added softly "We will avenge him. I promise you, both of you. But please, for now let us take you back home."

There was nothing to say against that, so everyone nodded their acceptance.

* * *

Two days and a very detailed report from Wolf and Tiger later, a portal opened barely a hundred meters away from the building belonging to Fairy Tail and the four assassins passed through it to find themselves in Magnolia.

"Tiger, put a portal on the door that would send back inside everyone trying to get out of the guild. I don't want any interference. Also, send the little Sky Dragon Slayer inside too, her healing abilities may negate my own spell." Instructed Robin, her voice cold and commanding, as always. She kept going. "Bear, I want you mainly on the Knight. Wolf, with my spell draining their life force, you should be able to take on both the Fire Dragon Slayer and the Ice-Make mage." She finished.

"What about you?" asked Wolf, curious.

"I'll take care of the blonde. With 'Life Force: Draining', she probably won't take the risk to call one of her spirits. It'll be her downfall." The three others smiled a little bit at that. They were a team, a well-oiled machine. Wolf and her poisoned fire, Tiger and his portals, Bear and unbreakable skin and wonderful strength, and finally Robin and her control over the Life Force magic. The group of trouble makers bound to arrive soon would never know what hit them. And indeed a few minutes later, the group of mages make their appearance.

Robin took a large breath. " **Life Force:** _Drain_ "

* * *

The little group had been silent during the two days it took to came back from the failed mission. The moral was low and the mood gloomy. Both Natsu and Lucy where feeling guilty, and all the others were worried about them.

" **Life Force:** _Drain_ "

Nobody heard the spell, yet this time both Natsu and Lucy felt the moment their forces began to disappear. They immediately took a battle stance, and sure enough the darkness was already around them.

"It's them! Wendy we will need your healing powers!" Warned Natsu with clenched teeth. The young girl gathered her magic, ready to annihilated the effects of this black smog. But before the young Air Dragon Slayer could do something to alleviate the suffering of her friends, a portal opened under her feet and she felt her body falling, only to find herself in the guild hall seconds later. 

"Wendy? How did you arrive here? Where are the others?" Questions were fusing from every member present at the moment, but the young Dragon Slayer did not take the time to answer as she rushed toward the door, intending to go back to help her friends in the battle. However, as soon as she opened the door and passed door threshold, she found herself back once again in the guild hall. 

Outside, things were not better. "Pfff, fire? Really?" Mocked Gray. Even with their forces diminished, they both would be fine against such a magic. He quickly blocked the attacked aimed at him by Wolf with an ice shield, and saw the pink haired boy at his sides ready to swallow the flames when something happened.

"Natsu! Don't eat it!" The black-haired young man had barely snatched his hands away while the green fire had abraded his shield, still making its way toward him. So now the Ice-Make mage was obliged to dodge every attack of the woman, and Fire Dragon Slayer was not in a better position.

Erza on the other hand, seemed less affected than the other by the dark spell, but she was not at her best and it was enough to allow Bear some fair chances against her. His unbreakable skin was string enough to protect him from her weapons, and his strength could break her armors. The Knight mage knew she would have the upper hand if only the darkness around her would disappear.

Natsu and Gray were both trying to fight the woman with the green fire, but the poison inside the flames would erode every creations of the ice mage, and there was no way the Fire Dragon Slayer would be able to eat anything without making himself sick. 

Lucy was still debating about taking the risk of calling one of her celestial spirits despite he spell in place when she heard the same voice as before. " **Life Force:** _Punch_ " The celestial mage did not see the shadows moved, but yet felt a violent punch on her head, knocking her on the floor. Because of the force of the impact she let go of her keys, watching them as they slid toward the feet of the assassin in front of her. 

Then before she knew it, the other woman was on her, sitting on her waist, effectively pinning her down. She tried to move, to defend herself, or when she could not break the hold, to scream. But before she could do one of those things, Robin spoke again. " **Life Force..."** No! She could not die like that!

"JUST FEEL SOMETHING!" The celestial mage did not know what scream those words, maybe because it was the only ones she could think of while looking at the emotionless expression above her. She certainly had not expected her aggressor to suddenly froze, the last word of her spell caught between her lips.

"Robin! What are you waiting for? Finish her!" Wolf screamed at her comrade, not to avail.

Then suddenly, Lucy saw it. It was the flicker of something in the eyes of her would-be murderer, and while it was too fast to identify it, the celestial mage knew it was a combination of guilt, fear, pain, despair... But before she could react, comfort her, saying something to help her, Wolf had jumped between them. In the same time, she kicked Lucy in the stomach hard enough to make her doubled over in pain, and knocked Robin unconscious with a powerful punch. 

That was at this moment that an enormous fist broke the wall next to the door, allowing all the mages trapped in the guild to get out, every one of them ready to fight. Seeing them now largely outnumbered, Tiger did not hesitate and created portals next to all his partners, having by now the habitude to allow strategic retreats for his friends and himself.

* * *

When he saw the aggressors of his children disappeared, the Master of Fairy Tail regained his smaller and much more usual height and frame. "Are all of you ok?" Every member nodded at the question, except one.

"We need to go after them!" Cried out Lucy, still chocked by what she had seen earlier. But Makarov did not seem to share her opinion. "Not now. They are obviously dangerous and ready to kill if necessary. They will pay for hurting you though, don't worry." 

However, it did nothing to calm the blonde, as she was not interested in revenge for now. "But we can't let her alone with them!" Why could they not understand how important it was to take the young woman away from these persons? They had not seen her eyes, the emotions breaking through whatever spell had been casted on her.

"Why? Because she sparred you? She is still an assassin my child. A dangerous criminal. Even if we were to go and get her, we should release her in the hands of the council in the end." There was some sadness in his eyes, but it did nothing to soften the hard edge of his voice.

But the same edge was present in the celestial mage's eyes. "I don't care. I don't care about the council, or about what she did before." Lucy then straitened, her spine and squared her shoulders, trying to put all her conviction in her next words. "And if I have to go on my own, I will."

"You won't be alone." It was Natsu who spoke first, his grin firmly in place and his eyes warm. "I don't know what you saw, but I trust you!" All the member of the team nodded at this, affirming their intention to tag along. But they were not the only ones.

"We will come with you." Everyone startled when they heard the voice of the one saying those words. When he saw the surprise in the faces around him Freed Justin added quietly. "If anyone should know about second chances, it is us, don't you think?"

Everyone looked a little bit unsure to what respond at that, but Gajeel was the first one to talk. "Hell hey! And I'll come too!" 

Makarov sighed. "You don't even know where they are hiding..." But a little voice next to the Iron Dragon Slayer spoke up. "Yes, we do!"

When everyone looked at her Levy blushed, but kept going. "I just went quickly over the documents Lucy brought back, and there are some indications about the possible location of their lair... I know It's not much, but I'm sure I can have a more precise location in two or three hours."

"Then let's go catch a Robin!" The Fire Dragon Slayer was already determined and ready to go. "Aye Sir!" Chimed Happy

* * *

Chimera looked with some sadness the girl in front of him. Robin was chained by her wrists, the chain holding her was just long enough so she could be on her knees, but too short for the young woman to lay down. The man hated doing that to his protegee, but it was a necessary evil. 

The cell she was in had been cleansed since she had spread the content of her stomach on her feet earlier, from a concussion or the onslaught of emotions now ravaging her mind, Chimera did not know. But it would be fine. Once her body and her mind were to be weakened, her defence low enough for him to pass through them, he would shut down once again all those disgusting emotions tormenting her.

Yes... He would save her no matter the cost!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! Do not hesitate to review, I take all the criticisms as long as they are constructive ^^


	3. Saving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the third and last chapter of this fiction! All the faults are my own as I don't have a Beta ^^ Please be clement with me as English is not my native language :) Enjoy!
> 
> Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima, I own nothing except my OCs ^^

Robin's whole body was hurting her. She did not know for how long she had been here, without eating or drinking, but it seemed like an eternity for the young woman. At one point her three friends... And were they even her friends? It just seemed like an elaborate act at this point.

Anyway, Wolf, Tiger, and Bear had come to beat her within an inch of her life. And the funny thing was that they had actually apologized while they were beating her, telling her it was for her own good and that everything would end well for all of them.

Were they right? She knew Chimera wanted her weak and malleable to make her emotion disappear once again. And at first she had been angry, feeling betrayed by the ones supposed to care about her. How could they decide what she should, or ultimately should not, feel? How could they hurt her while claiming theyr cared about her? However she was now wondering if maybe they could be right...

And more importantly she wanted all of this to end. She wanted to quiet all these emotions, one way or the other. Maybe Chimera and the others were telling the truth after all... Everything was so confusing!

But in the end, it did not matter. They had promised her that everything would be over and that she would be fine. In a way Robin was hoping it would be soon, very soon...

* * *

In the Fairy Tail guild hall, both Levy and Freed were working on the notes Lucy had bring from Mister Middle. They had managed to pinpoint the location of the guild toward a rather big village at maybe four days on feet. But the village was rather large, they were still looking for a way to find more precise coordinates.

The others were waiting nervously, pacing and muttering to themselves. Some members were still against the idea of saving a murderer, while others could not help but be skeptical about the capacity of their scholars to find the lair of the guild.

"Master... What is exactly the magic Robin use?" It was Lucy who asked the questions, but everyone in the guildhall seemed to be interested by the answer.

"Life Force is an old magic. Its users a very rare, for they need to be able to control both Light and Darkness. The Light part of this magic is used to modify the body and the life force of a person in order to heal him." When he saw he had all their attention, Makarov kept going.

"The Dark part on the other hand serve mainly to injure or kill an opponent. For example, the spell ' **Life Force** : _Slash'_ use the Darkness to manipulate the skin of the victim and lake it open in a big wound on the location decided by the caster. "

"But the shadows took the form of a knife when she killed Mister Middle!" Interjected the celestial mage.

"Probably because it is simpler for her to focus on her objective if the magic takes a solid and eloquent form." Agreed the Master.

"I've got them!" Suddenly screamed the blue haired girl.

"Are you certain this is the place?" Asked Macao, still skeptical and not very enthusiastic bout this mission.

"Yes, we are sure." Agreed the Rune Mage.

"Then lets go!" Screamed the Fire Dragon Slayer, always easily riled? "Aye Sir!" Chimed in Happy. The rest of the little group followed them, amused and determined.

* * *

Chimera was sitting at the head of the large table, as usual, in the room they had renamed as a jock the 'Throne Room' when a sudden explosion resounded at the other end of the property. The man looked up, and a sinister grin appeared on his lips. "Fairy Tail..."

"Stay here. We will deal with them." Wolf, who had also been sitting at the table with Tiger and Bear, now stood up, ready to fight.

"Don't worry, they will never be able to reach this room, or you." Assured Bear, Tiger nodding at these words.

"Make them pay for their arrogance, will you?" The man's tone was polite and soft, yet his expression was ferocious.

The assassins all smirked, giving away their joy at this order, and went on their way to engage the fight against the intruders.

* * *

Once the front was opened... Or more precisely once the front door had been brutally exploded by angry mages, they all stopped to establish a plan.

"From what we could discover, there is several bedrooms on the first floor, a large and important room on the ground floor surrounded by three corridors, and the cells are on the cellar." Explained Levy.

"Natsu, Gray, I want both of you on the East corridor. I will take the West one. Lucy, Freed, you take the cellar, go and get her." Erza was in charge, giving instructions like a general would order her soldiers around.

"The rest of you, Bickslow, Ever, Gajeel, Levy, Wendy, and the Exceeds, take the last corridor. Do not engage against their leader on your own, wait for everyone."

"Understood!" Screamed with enthusiasm the men and women with her. Then they all began to run in the direction indicated by the great Titania.

* * *

Natsu and Gray were running in the long hallway supposed to lead to the main room. After a while they finally saw the heavy wooden door leading toward what was probably the central room. That was when a green fire stopped them in their tracks.

"You did not stand a chance back then, and you won't stand a chance right now!" Snarled Wolf, not about to let those stupid mages take Robin away from her friends and true family.

"SHUT UP!" Both yelled Natsu and Gray, perfectly in synch.

At once the Ice-Make mage had frozen the green flames, and the Fire Dragon Slayed had punched her so hard that her body went flying backward, crashing into the door.

"You are really calling that 'fire'?" Scoffed the pink haired man.

"Yeah, even flame-brain over here give me a better challenge when we fight. I guess you are not that strong when your friend is not here to weakened us." Agreed Gray.

Once the woman out of their way they finally made their way toward the man responsible for this mess. And while they had promised to not engage him on their own, some ideas of revenge were already on their minds.

* * *

On her hallway Erza did not have much more troubles either. Bear may have a near unbreakable skin, he was still no match for the Knight Mage.

The man was an imposing and silent figure on her path, but she did not stop to think a second before equipping her Black Wings Armor, and striking. And while she barely managed to break the skin, she knew she had heard a few bones cracking.

After a very short and one-way fight, the big man was not moving anymore, so Erza took hold of one of his ankles and continued her way, dragging Bear with her.

* * *

Freed and Lucy had both taken the stairs to go on lower level. After a few minutes and thanks to Levy's indications, they had managed their way toward the cells. It was minutes later that they finally found their missing bird in one of the cells, but both gasped at the sight in front of them.

The brunette was hanging limply by her wrists, on her knees. She was thin, almost emaciate, and her hair were almost as tern as her eyes had been before... But now her two chocolate orbs were half closed, the left one badly swollen, and were observing them with some wariness.

"Dark Écriture: crochet" The Runes mage muttered, opening the door. Once the cell was unlocked, he slowly went inside and made his way toward the broken body of the young woman they had come to save. The moment he was at her sides, he whispered once again the spell.

The shackles fell from the Robin's wrists. The young woman body fell on the waiting arms of the green haired man. Robin though about struggling for a moment, but decided against it in the end. She did not have the strength to, and the blonde who had freed her from the spell on her emotions seemed to trust the man.

Freed on the other side was torn. If he decided to keep the brunet in his arms, he would not be able to fight, and that would let only Lucy to protect them. It was not that he did not trust the celestial mage, but if more than one adversary were to find them, she could have some difficulties.

"Do not worry, I'll protect the three of you." A new and familiar voice announced.

"Loke!" Cried the celestial mage with some relief. "What are you doing here?"

"You should know by now that you don't need to call me, I'll always be there when you need you knight in a shining armour." Teased the ginger haired man.

"Thank you, Loke." The green haired man was now more at ease.

The little group quickly made his way back to the main room, but something was off. The companions of Robin were sprawled on the floor, out of combat, while the rest of the Fairy Tail's members were encircling the last man still standing. It should have been a good thing, but there was something wrong, Freed could feel it.

And from the tense attitude from Loke and Lucy, so did they. So the green haired man delicately put his charge on the floor under the watchful eyes of the celestial mage and the Lion spirit, and quickly draw some protective runes around her.

"Do not move from that spot, no matter what. You need to promise me to not move." When the young woman did not respond immediately, he pressed her more urgently. "Do you trust me?"

Robin should say no. How could she trust a man she had never met before and only knew for two minutes? Once upon a time she had though she could trust Chimera, and that was where it had led her... But yet the brunet had never felt safer than in this man's arms. So she nodded timidly.

So Freed, Loke, and Lucy went to place themselves between the man and their protegee, closing the circle made around their enemies and joining their forces with the ones of their friends.

"This is over, Chimera. Surrender and we will let the Council apprehend you without hurting you or them." As always, Erza's tone was authoritative and broke no arguments. Yet the man did not seem to be intimidated.

"Really? I don't think so!"

And then, almost at once, all the fairies began to feel bad. It was a strange combination of guilt, sadness and despair. Lucy could feel her throat and stomach tightening in anguish, while tears had made their ways on her cheeks, the anger and sadness she would always feel while thinking about her father invading her mind.

When she looked around her, she could see that none of her comrades were in shape for a fight. In fact, they did not seem to want to fight.

Natsu and Gray were on their knees, feelings of despair and abandonment overwhelming them. Erza was still standing up, but her eyes were full of fear, the same she used to feel in the Tower of Heaven.

All the members of the Raijinshuu were crying with guilt over the events that hapenened at the Fantasia. Gajeel, Levy, Wendy, and even the Exceeds were also on the ground, their faces haunted by anguish only them could understand.

However, all those feelings disappeared as a new person entered the room. A small man entered, an intense light shining from his body and destroying everything on its path. Its presence should have been threatening, but instead it warmed the hearts of the fairies present.

"Your first mistake was to harm my children. Your second? It was to harm YOUR children!" Makarov was still walking, placing himself between Chimera and his children.

Suddenly the chief of the assassins began to laugh. It was a disturbing sound, unnatural and almost scary. "Don't you understand? I saved her! I saved all of them from their miserable fates!" When none of the persons present seemed to understand, he continued.

"Wolf was a lowly waitress in a pitiful inn while Tiger and Bear were both servants for the spiteful workers of a circus. And Robin… She is my most beautiful creation. I took her pure, white magic, the one she wanted to use to heal her allies and friends, and transformed it into the weapon that annihilate all her foes!" He paused an instant, and continued with a softer tone.

"Do you really have no mercy? You have no idea how hard it is, for her as for me, when I am forced to take her emotions away…"

"You bastard!" Natsu's voice was the louder, but he was not the only one to react this way.

"No... you are the bastards here. How? How do you dare come here and hope to take one of her own, a member of our family, away from us?" Whispered softly Wolf on the floor. She shook her head. "We won't let that happens." Suddenly Tiger had appeared behind Robin, but before he could grab her to take her away, a wall of purple letters stopped him. He shouted as he snatched his hand back, this one badly burned.

"Anyone trying to pass through this wall without the mark of Fairy Tail shall be repelled." Announced the Runes Mage.

"You think you are her family?" Freed's tone was soft and dangerous. "You think that by taking away her emotions you are protecting her?"

"You are wrong." Announced sadly Bickslow. ' _Wrong, wrong!_ ' agreed the totems following him. "We tried this for Fairy Tail. We tried to create a guild based only on the strength of its member, with no emotions. We though too that emotions were making us weak." Explained Ever, trying to her remorse out of her voice.

"That's why you do not deserve her." Concluded the runes mage. "Yeah man, she is coming with us." Added the Seith mage. ' _With us, with us!_ ' repeated the tiki totems. "And if you care about your life, you won't try to stop us." Ever had already taken her glasses off.

At this moment every member of Fairy Tail looked at the Raijinshuu with a new found respect. Also, Makarov noted in his mind to remind them and the others that they had already be forgiven for what they did. After all, the old Master knew where their anger had come from.

On the other side of the room however, Chimera did not seem to agree with the general acceptation of the situation. "SHE IS MINE!" The man roared. But while the four members of his guild seemed to curl up on themselves at the bestial noise, none of the members of Fairy Tail moved. Makarov even managed to look bigger than ever.

"No, she is not. In fact, she will come back with us." He looked at the young woman, his eyes softening. "We are going home."

"No! Robin stay right her…" Chimera never managed to finish his sentence, as a fist covered in flames crashed into his face.

As black spots began to cover his vision, Chimera knew he had lost. He had lost his guild and failed his protegees. With some fondness, he remembered when he had first met them.

* * *

Wolf had been a waitress in a small, shady inn. When she was ten her father had left her mother for another woman, leaving his ex-wife and daughter with nothing. So both the mother and daughter had to work hard to be able to pay for a roof over their heads and some food.

When she was fifteen Wolf lost her mother to a decease, not having the money to pay for a treatment. So when Chimera had found her, Wolf had already been bitter, disappointed in life, and had considered Chimera's offer as the perfect way to seek revenge upon the world.

Bear and Tiger had been two orphans, living on the streets since they were eight, and then having been taking in by a circus when they were eleven. They had though they were lucky, that they would now have warm beds, some food, a family...

It was nothing like that. The boys were treated as slaves, asked to cook, clean, and take care of the animals while been treated as dirt under the boots of the other members. Yet they both stayed, not wanting to go back on the street.

When he had found them, they were both on the floor, having been beaten once again, but this time also left for dead afterward. Chimera had taken and help them, healed them, before talking to the two boys about his job and his projects, his ambition to from a guild.

They had not been completely in the right set of minds at first, but once he had slightly manipulated their anger and their self-esteem, they were ready.

And of course, he remembered the day he met Robin. It was in a small village recently touched by a violent famine. She did not call herself 'Robin' back then, of course, but even then he had saw the potential in her. Chimera had not wanted to stay more than a day there after his last murder in the region, but the girl had intrigued him enough to push him to stay the night.

She was acting as a volunteer healer, offering consultations against some food and a roof above her head at night. In the morning, the both of them had talked during the breakfast, and the man had enjoyed the small chat. That's why he stayed there the rest of the day, and in the evening they shared a table. After a little while Robin began to tell her history.

"A neighbor taught me Life Force magic, but not all of it. He told me that his knowledge was just about the Light side of this magic, the one dedicated to the healing arts." She paused and drank some more wine, and then kept going. "But apparently here is also a Dark side, however as he did not know a thing about this one, he told me that my best chance to learn about it was to travel."

Chimera had already known this, Life Force magic having always fascinated him. But he was still surprised that this young girl was willing to learn both sides of this magic. Usually, the healers choosing this type of magic always stayed on the Light side, never bothering to learn all the subtleties of this old Magic.

"Of course, my parents did not agree with this, wanting a more 'honorable' profession for me. But I simply took my belongings and did not leave them a choice. I really hope that when I'll be settled, they will find in them to forgive me."

Robin was smart, witty, and even a little bit cynic. Rosa would have probably been exactly like her, had she had the chance to grow up in this cruel wold. Rosa and Miranda... His beloved child and wife. Taken from him by a man without remorse.

And when she laughed... When the young woman was laughing Chimera though he was hearing a small Robin singing. That was it this moment that he made his mind. He would not let the young brunet alone to be killed by someone without scruples. He also knew she was not like the other three.

So he stayed the week with her, working slowly and carefully on her emotions. First diminishing her empathy, her kindness, her joy, in fact all the positive feelings she could have. Then augmenting her anger, her suspicions, and some other negative thoughts.

He knew he could not shut down all her emotions, or the young woman would become catatonic. The last step of his plan was to create an incredible sense of loyalty and gratefulness toward him and her soon to be friends.

Once it was over, the now baptized 'Robin' followed him without any resistance.

* * *

Back into the present, Chimera knew there was no way he could defeat Makarov. But this was not a reason to abandon his duty. He would once again save his children, this time from a life in prison.

He reached out with his last strengths, finding successfully the emotions of Wolf, Tiger, and Bear. Because of the runes surrounding Robin, he could not reach her feelings. _It seems like I am condemned to fail her a last time..._ But he could still offer a better fate for his protegees. He looked a last time at the brunet, with sorrow and guilt in his eyes. "Farwell, Robin..."

"NO!" Robin screamed trying to prevent what was about to happen, but it was already too late. Chimera had simply and carefully destroyed any emotions in the minds of his assassins and his own.

They were now nothing more than catatonic bodies on the floor, and would never be able to anything ever again. And the brunet was sobbing, grieving what she thought she had while in Chimera's spell, and regretting what could have been had she met them in others circumstances.

Robin could not stop crying, screaming, and cursing. It had been too much in a short time for her mind, and not even the arms of the green-haired man, nor the smile of the beautiful lady with glasses, and not even the funny totems of the man with a helmet could calm her down.

And before her mind and body finally decided to shut down, from exhaustion and pain, she heard the words of the tiny yet enormous old man. Words meaning the world at this moment for her.

"Come with us my child. We are going home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! Do not hesitate to review, I take all the criticisms as long as they are constructive ^^

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Do not hesitate to review, I take all the criticisms as long as they are constructive ^^


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